


Enter the Unknown

by ouroboros221



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers, xxxHoLic
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Historical Inaccuracy, Prussia makes a wish from Yuuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 13:51:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/651165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ouroboros221/pseuds/ouroboros221
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Right before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, Pruissa finds an odd shop in the middle of a city. So, he walks inside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enter the Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> Prussia is one of my favorite characters, so naturally I think about him a fair amount. Then one day the thought pops into my head of what he must have been thinking when he got the news that the Holy Roman Empire was about to dissolve. And since shortly after that I read some xxxHolic the idea and Yuuko merged in my brain to get this.

Time period: The fall of the Holy Roman Empire

‘He is my brother.’ I thought as I trudged across the land beneath my feet. Sure we weren’t the closest of brothers, heck our entire family was always fighting, among ourselves and against others. But that never stopped him from being my brother. And now… and now he could… Damn am I really that cowardly? Afraid of even thinking that he, an immortal (oh and what a misleading word that is) nation such as I could die.

I halted my pace as I saw something strange from the corner of my eye. It was a small shop, much like the others on this street, but different in decorations, the lawn and so much more if one were to actually look. It was like it came from another world, or one that lived in its own, isolated from the outside. 

Even after all these years, I still am not quite sure just why I felt so drawn to that tiny strange shop. A strange place that looked so odd to me and yet people would pass it by without a second glance. I stopped just short of the gate, suddenly fearful. We nations are not like you humans, even if we may look like you, we do not see the world the same way nor do we fight the same battles as you. England’s magic, which was supposed to be stamped out across all the land, still survived in him. He held onto the relics and ways of old the same way a child would a security blanket. For this shop to feel odd to me, meant that it most certainly was different than the buildings around me. And coming from me, I suppose that says a lot, but at the time I didn’t really follow that train of thought down its full implications.

I tentatively walked inside the gate, and was startled just a bit when I heard it close behind me. Like this place wanted no interruptions while I was here. I knocked cautiously on the ornate door. “Hello?” I called out, unsure of if I wanted an answer or not.

“Come in.” A woman’s voice beckoned me. I opened the door and walked inside. I was astonished by the beauty of the shop, but I quickly moved forward lest I keep the woman waiting.

I turned a corner to find an open room along with a woman, whom I could only assume was the owner of the voice who called me in, greeting me. I stopped short, taking in the sight before me, and I am sure she did the same. We must have made an odd picture, her and I. With my white hair and her’s dark as night. Her clothes were outrageously extravagant, positioned in all the right places to just cover what she needed against my standard uniform. But our eyes, I’ll never forget her eyes, I should think. For as long as I live, however long that may be. She had the same as mine. Two pairs of old red eyes stared at each other for a few seconds before I coughed and looked away. I suppose I could have been embarrassed to be caught staring, but even with my upbringing by the Knights I don’t quite believe it. There was something knowing in those old eyes of hers, something ancient, and for a being like me who can still remember (if just barely) the old tales and truths from my grandfather, it’s scary.

“May I ask for your name?” I asked, as polite as I could make it sound. Ancient often demands respect and though I scoff at England’s stories and claims of creatures, he does make a good point; you never want to piss off a being that could wipe you from existence. 

“Names for us are foolish.” She told me, and even now I still cannot forget the way her tongue slid over her words, as if they were strawberries at the height of the season, carefully picked and chosen even with juice running down your chin. “You and I, we bow to the humans, but not always. We listen to them and follow their rules, for the most part. They are ours and we are theirs, ‘til either we or they turn on the other.”

She looked up at me through her black lashes. “You know the land well, perhaps better than anyone else still here, but even you cannot stall the winter. Even you cannot break the frost over this ground.”

I stood in silence, her words washing over me like the tales my grandfather used to tell late at night by the fire. Both of them knew what they were talking about, and believed it fully and completely.

“I need something.” I said, hesitantly. Because this I knew, if nothing else.

“You want a wish, correct?” She asked me. I paused for a moment, just a moment. And I thought about leaving right then and there, over just going back and living out my very long life. I could have turned around right then and there, leaving the shop that promised impossible things (another word that has hidden meanings and depths). But I stayed; I stayed in that strange, abnormal shop with a woman whose eyes hid more than they told. 

I have never really been said to be cautious, even as a child I was stubborn as a mule and got into worse trouble than a cat, so I answered her. “Yes, I do.”

“This is a shop that sells wishes. As long as you can pay the price, you wish will be granted.” This part could be tricky, I knew from the stories of Greece passed down to him from his mother. The stories that came from the merchants of Egypt, and the travelers from France. There were so many stories that warned against this situation, this deal with an ancient being who knew more than they let on.

And yet… “I want to keep my brother alive.” I said simply, telling nothing more. She would know what I was talking about. She would tell me the price and I would decide if I would fall into this deal, or walk away without anything to show for my encounter.

“You don’t want him to disappear like those you’ve previously known. So, with the recent turmoil in the region, you wish to keep him alive? He is like you, is he not?” She asked me. I nodded, she needed no more confirmation.

The woman sighed. “This will not be an easy thing to do, for either of you. He cannot go on being the Holy Roman Empire.” She was good, and she was powerful. But I knew, this would cost a great price. “But to ensure that he will live, you must give up something as well.”

“I am willing to give up what I must.” I said resolutely. For him. For my brother.

“For certainty that he will survive, you must give up your own certainty. In short,” Here she turned those strange, eternally old eyes onto me. “You must take his place.” Her words hung thick in the air.

“I accept.” In a way, there never really was any different choice. Brothers with sky blue eyes and wars and blood on the battlefield staining the land red swirl in my mind.

*************************************************************************************************

Time period: February 25, 1945: The dissolution of Prussia

And on that fateful day of the dissolution of my once great empire for the mistakes made by my brother’s idiot ruler, the memory of her words lingered in my bowed head as tears spilled from my eyes. And I smiled.


End file.
